The Tax Commission says small and midsize firms should pay more taxes to offset the loss in revenue from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's promised corporate tax cut, it said in its reform plan Friday.
Analysts said that will no doubt draw fire for giving preferential treatment to big firms at the expense of small businesses, which play a vital role in the economy.
The tax panel said the Abe administration should review tax breaks for small and midsize firms and expand the targeting of corporate income tax based on "external standards," such as payroll size, capital and other ways of measuring the scale of firms' operations.